[Craig Meis] For those of you that don’t know, and obviously you all do from the sign that’s up here, we’re here this morning to celebrate the designation of the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area. To say the very least, this came though a lot of hard work and dedication and efforts from so many people over so many years. We are going to be talking and celebrating with those folks there this morning. This list is long as far as those who worked on this. The list is also long of those that are special guests here this morning. We hope to recognize a few of those here today. Jan McCracken] Please join with me in welcoming Secretary Salazar this morning. Thank you.

[Applause]

[Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar] Let me first of all say that I come here to the Dominguez-Escalante Canyon celebration of Delta, Montrose, and Mesa counties and all the people who made this possible today with a great sense of humility and also pride. This is home. This is home. Over the last three days I've been in the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin, and in the wildlife refuges of Minnesota, and Glacier National and Waterton Peace Park between the Canadian border and Montana. And, as wonderful as those places are, and as beautiful as those places are, there is no place like Colorado. I love this place. You live in God’s Country.

[Applause]

And, as we move forward with our efforts on these treasured landscapes it is important for us always to remember two things. The first is that our landscapes in fact are economic generators. They are important to create jobs that come from hunting and fishing. There are millions in fact hundreds of millions of jobs that are created from the landscapes and tourism that come to these places. Hunters, and anglers, and ranchers, and wildlife watchers, and rafters and so many others who are part of these landscapes of western Colorado and the Dominguez-Escalante are part of the contribution to that economic well-being of our country. And, that will in fact continue to be the case. And, it was a recognition that when we take care of our special places, we take care of the outdoors, we take care of our rivers, and we take care of our communities, and we clean up places, and we create community separators that we are really creating a legacy, not only for our children and our grandchildren, but really for the better economic times of our community. We have over 300 square miles of land. With all of its grandeur, and all of its beauty, and all of its wildlife, and all of its historic human uses that will be celebrated forever. It means that your children, our grandchildren, and for centuries for come, they will be able to come to this place and find the treasured landscape that is here, but also to refuel their spirits on the history and the opportunities of just being in the outdoors. I congratulate all of you who have worked on this wonderful template. So the people are part of this great place, the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, you will always be able to come back and refuel your spirit. And, in that same vein, so will your children. They will come back here and they will refuel your spirit and it is part of what will make America great. It is part of why America is great today, and it is why I have such great optimism that no matter what issues we confront as a country, no matter how tough they are, the best days of the best of the United States of America are still ahead of us. Thank you all very, very much.